Grade 2 get hands-on wind turbine learning

Another reason to go back to school is the fun, hands-on learning that kids get to experience, such as powering a light bulb using a small wind turbine. 

Rendell Park grade two enjoyed the fun learning by designing their own fan blades and then seeing which ones worked best to light the bulb. 

“The kids had fun designing turbine blades – and trying to figure out what kind of design would be most efficient,” says Cornelius Krahn, education technology consultant with the Lloydminster Public School Division, LPSD. 

Krahn explains that the grade two science curriculum involves the water cycle, precipitation, rain and the weather in general. Lethbridge Polytechnic has given the LPSD three wind turbine kits to do demonstrations for the students. 

“I can see connections from Kindergarten through grade 12. Grade 12 physics would be good to try this out as well.” 

Krahn shares how the learning would advance as they move through the different grades. 

“It’s about how much you would need to lead them. In grade 2, you are identifying things with them and for them. In the older grades, you can include more variables, and have them identify the different parts, while making that connection to what they already know about wind turbines.” 

Krahn says he enjoys bringing hands-on learning to the kids, allowing them to recreate something that they saw in a textbook or video.

The grade 2s were certainly blown away by the fact that their fan blade designs, which were decaled with their artwork, could be used to produce light.